Check your smoke alarms, firefighters urge as Vancouver ties fire death record

Grim statistics for Vancouver fire fatalities The Vancouver fire department has kicked off a campaign warning residents after the city tied the deadliest year for fires on record.

Firefighters are reminding Vancouver residents about the importance of smoke detectors after the city tied its record for annual fire-related fatalities.

Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services offered condolences Wednesday after announcing the city's latest fire victim – a man who was found unconscious in a second-floor apartment on Wall Street early this month.

Capt. Jonathan Gormick said firefighters carried the victim outside so paramedics could rush him to hospital, but they were unable to save his life.

"Tragically, the patient succumbed to his injuries last week while in hospital," Gormick said.

His death marks Vancouver's eighth fire fatality of 2018, tying the city's previous record. Firefighters said most of the victims succumbed to smoke inhalation, which is often preventable when an alarm goes off alerting people they're in danger.

"These are fatalities that happen because there's nothing to wake occupants up in the early stages of a fire, and they're overcome in their sleep with no chance of escape," Gormick said. "These are men, women and children that are dying needless, preventable deaths."

The majority of fatalities this year can be "directly linked" to a lack of working smoke alarms, according to firefighters. Gormick said the same is true for previous years in Vancouver, and for annual fire death tolls in cities across North America.

The fire that claimed the life of a three-year-old girl in East Vancouver last year broke out in a home that didn't appear to have any smoke detectors. (LINK)

All told, 62 people have died from Vancouver fires over the last 17 years, and 60 per cent of the tragedies happened in homes with no working smoke alarm.

By law, all homes in the city should have smoke alarms, and firefighters noted the devices are free through Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services' Home Safety Check program.

Residents can schedule a safety check by calling 311.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Mi-Jung Lee